Married - Interview with Judy Greer and Nat Faxon

“Married’s” Judy Greer and Nat Faxon don’t miss a beat as they play off each other’s humor.

When a journalist on our media conference call asks the co-stars which TV shows they watch, Faxon tells us, “I’ve been watching a lot of ‘Masters of Sex’ recently.”

“That’s on Showtime,” Greer interjects. “I need to get that.”

“Yes,” Faxon replies. “It will make you maybe horny though, Judy, so be wary.”

“Never mind, never mind, I’m not getting it,” she declares jokingly. “I’m not going to get Showtime.”

The actors’ relaxed, effortless banter illustrates their comfort level with one another. That kind of ease is crucial when making the type of series these two are about to headline.

"Being on FX and on cable, you certainly can get away with more than you can on network TV,” explains Faxon. And “Married” pushes those boundaries. The half-hour comedy centers on Lina (Greer) and Russ Bowman (Faxon), a married couple with a declining sex life and increasing debt. The show is real – there’s no glossy sheen. It is also raunchy and crude, intended for mature audiences. In the pilot episode, let’s just say Russ is left to entertain himself while Lina reads in bed. When they later talk about her lack of desire for intimacy, she tells Russ maybe he needs to find sex somewhere else; she just doesn’t want to know about it.

“I think the sort of darkness and the risks were exciting to us,” says Faxon. “That was kind of part of the allure in a sense, to go down sort of a darker alley. I don’t think there was anything that was over the line or felt too far, in terms of the stuff we did.”

“It’s actually pretty raw,” adds Greer. “It’s very edgy and funny, and it doesn’t really seem to get all tied up with a nice pretty bow at the end of every episode, which I really like.”

The character of Russ is a struggling freelance graphic designer who longs for the time when he was hanging out with his friends, designing surf boards and attracting more of his wife’s attention. Lina is a stay-at-home mom who often feels overwhelmed with taking care of her three children and childlike husband. The imperfect characters appealed to both actors who say they appreciate the current TV landscape.

“I do feel like it’s a golden age of television,” says Faxon. “I feel like there are more risks being taken and there are the most flawed and wonderfully dark characters, and I think those are the things that are attractive to actors – really being able to get into these fatally flawed people that have so many problems and issues and yet are very much representative of what kind of exists in society.”

Each star has worked in both film and television. Greer is best known for her movie roles. However, she enjoys working in both mediums. “Before I think there was a real line between, ‘Oh, you do TV or you do movies,’ and now it’s all the same,” she says. “I think there are a lot of TV shows that are better than a lot of the movies being made.”

Over the years the actress has become familiar to audiences by consistently playing the best friend in films like “13 Going on 30,” “The Wedding Planner” and “27 Dresses.” Those kinds of side roles became such a staple for her that she recently published a book, “I Don’t Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star.” But the performer says she feels no pressure now in taking over the lead. “The roles I’m playing—they’re comfortable for me,” she emphasizes. “Maybe the size of them is getting bigger, but I’m still feeling like myself playing them, which is important to me. I’m excited about being in ‘Married’ and not just because I have a bigger role in it, but I think that I’m getting offered really cool roles right now. I’m excited for the challenge.”

Not that it was too much of a stretch to play half of a married couple. Each actor is married is real life. In fact, Faxon says, “I’m exactly like my character so it’s pretty easy. I am married. I have three children. I guess I have a little bit more financial stability probably than Russ does at this very moment in time, but I would say I’m similar. I also tell my wife that I’m going to work and then I go surfing and then get in trouble for it later so we are very similar. I can’t say there are a lot of differences between us.”

Greer says Lina is much more of a loner than her. “She doesn’t really need much outside of her family, and that is a way that I am different, but I also admire her and wish I was more like that. I also like how cranky Lina is, although I’m pretty cranky. I think in that way we’re similar.”

As she talks about what marriage means, Greer and her co-star again slip into their teasing repartee.

“Marriage means that it’s super, super hard to break up, right?” she asks laughing.

Faxon replies, “True, it does make that harder.”

She continues, “I like it a lot. I’m super into it, but I’m only two and a half years in.”

“Yeah, just wait,” Faxon responds.

Getting serious, the two say they like the commitment the characters share, even in hard times. “I like in the pilot episode that [Lina’s] like, ‘I don’t want a divorce.’ She wants to be married. She wants to be with this guy forever,” says Greer.

“I think [marriage] means a partnership,” Faxon adds. “I think what it means on the show and what it means in life is kind of parallel. I think they go hand in hand in a way because for Russ and Lina, their life is sort of consumed by their kids and their schedules and pretty much everything that goes into that. What’s sort of missing and what’s important to keep track of, both on the show and in life, is a sense of connection. I think these two characters right now are sort of misfiring a bit, and I think that’s representative of what marriage is in a sense, that it’s work. It’s a lot of work. It’s spending your entire life with somebody and raising kids and having to make decisions together. You endure the full spectrum of emotions, as far as being friends and in love and having the time of your lives, mixed with really difficult times where you don’t see eye to eye and you can’t get along and you have to work and fight for staying together. It is exactly what [Judy] said. It does make it difficult to break up, and therefore it’s kind of about commitment and all that comes with it.”

Faxon clearly has a knack for explaining things, a skill that he’s put to good use in Hollywood as a writer. In 2012 he won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Descendants,” which happened to star Greer alongside George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. He also wrote and directed the movie “The Way, Way Back” starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell.

That begs the question did he contribute any writing to “Married?” The answer is no – but not because it wasn’t encouraged. He says the show’s creator was open to his involvement but he was busy with other projects. (He is currently writing and will be directing an upcoming action comedy starring Kristen Wiig and is working on another project for Fox Searchlight.) He also says he wanted to get his character in gear before taking on more responsibilities. “I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind as well as available to do it,” he says. “Maybe in upcoming seasons – cross our fingers that there are – that can happen.”

That doesn’t mean the actors didn’t have input. Faxon says he, Greer and the series creator collaborated about the characters’ development. And the actors also performed quite a bit of improvisation on set. “It was welcomed,” he says, “and also sometimes we found some fun stuff that wasn’t on the page. But we were also working with a pretty fantastic blueprint, as far as the scripts. They were in really good shape so it wasn’t totally necessary. It was really more just kind of garnish on top of what was already a great meal.”

Audiences can check out that “meal” for themselves tonight on FX. “Married” premieres at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

About the Author - Tonya Papanikolas

Tonya Papanikolas is a freelance journalist who loves covering entertainment and television. She spent more than 10 years as a broadcast news anchor and reporter. Now she does everything from hosting to writing. She especially loves writing TV articles and reviews for SpoilerTV.